REI Alcove Shelter

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I bought this as a rain shelter to cover a campground picnic table. The specs say the coverage area is 120x120 inches (10'x10') or 100 square feet. This is totally incorrect. The actual covered area is 7'x8' or only 56 square feet. That's almost 50% smaller than advertised. A large picnic table would barely fit leaving no extra room to walk around the table or space for extra gear without getting wet. I am returning the product due to its small covered area.

The product seems of good quality and was very easy to set up. I set it up by myself in less than 10 minutes first try.

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

After trying some of the other beach sun shelters, I gave this one a go. It is much lighter and more compact that the typical easy-up type shelter, though heavier than the standard tent. We pitched on Hilton Head Island beach in constant 20+mph winds with gusts to 30mph. Every umbrella put up by beach goers caved in during those two days (every single one, and we are talking about 12 that I personally witnessed). This shelter worked perfectly. I did purchases some sand-type stakes for the guide lines, and the guidelines are a requirement in wind.
To make this shelter more stable, you could add some guidelines between corners inside the shelter. I would have given it 5 stars but I have not tested in the rain, plus the fact that they did not include 4 stakes for the outer lines.

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I needed a portable shelter to give my dogs a cool place to rest at dog agility trials. Previously I had used an expandable "pop-up" style canopy, but they are usually very heavy and bulky, and when you're hauling dogs, crates and other necessities the last thing you need is another huge item. I chose the the REI Alcove because it's easy to stash between other gear in the car and it's light and compact enough to carry on my shoulder. Plus, my previous canopy frame started warping little by little from repeated set-ups until the aluminum finally snapped in two. The Alcove's design makes that much less likely to happen.

Set-up is just as easy as the video makes it look. The frame itself seems flimsy and wobbly at first, but the fabric canopy and guylines stabilize it very well. I have not used it in windy conditions yet, but it seems that it would remain stable in moderate but not heavy wind.

The actual shaded area of the Alcove is not as large as the square "pop-up" style shelters, and the overhead is a little lower on the edges. I will definitely need to clamp extra shade fabric to the sides on very hot/sunny days to keep my dogs cool. But overall I'm quite pleased with this shelter and will recommend it to other dog-sport enthusiasts.

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I own and have used a host of REI branded products including a couple of tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, backpacks, etc. This is the first one I haven't been impressed with.

As one reviewer mentions, this shelter isn't really 10x10. The base of the feet of the tent may be 10' apart (they're angled out and away from the top) but the shelter over your head is most certainly not. It's quite a bit smaller than that. 8'x7' probably isn't too far off.

This shelter is also pretty low hanging. The peak height of 78" is I'm sure correct but on the sides it's closer to 66" and the ends range from 66" to 72", perhaps. If you're 6' or taller you'll definitely be ducking to enter the shelter.

My last big complaint, as another reviewer mentioned, is that the shelter holds a lot of water. You can tighten down the corners pretty good but there's no way to tighten the middle without staking it down. That leaves a lot of room for water to collect and stretch the shelter ceiling quite a bit. It performs better staked down but I hoped for better performance when freestanding.

To be clear, this isn't a "bad" shelter. It's just not what I expected from REI. It's pretty easy to set up and after you've got the top on it and have it staked down, it's quite sturdy. It's also reasonably light for what you get. I selected no, that I would not recommend, but I'm a little on the fence with that. If you understand th limitations then it's not a bad buy.

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I have tried this alcove a number of times for sun and rain protection and concluded:
- very stable also in high wind
- easy to setup and - relatively - light (could be lighter if different material would be chosen for poles, see also comment about rust formation below)
- too small (does not really cover a picnic table)
- the enamel coating of the steel poles flakes off easily when used; as a consequence the poles will start too rust very soon
- the fabric (nylon?) is strong but very elastic. Pools of water will form on the roof. Even fitting additional guy lines (not supplied) did not solve this problem. The water will stretch the fabric further, leading to more accumulation of water etc.

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I purchased this alcove to provide shade for packing a parachute during a 3-day BASE jumping trip in Arizona. The first day the winds became severe. Two other "pop-up" style shade shelters broke (aluminum poles failed and bent). We ended up taking video of the alcove because we could not believe it was withstanding the wind. It bends, it looks like it won't take the wind, but it never failed. Was very impressed with the ability to remain intact.

The unit is lightweight, this was included in our airline luggage and did not take up much room/weight.

If you are looking for shade, the wind walls are required to provide a large amount of it as the shade from the canopy alone does not provide a lot of shade. Would definitely recommend this product.

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

My friends and I took this shelter with us for a camping and rafting trip in Alaska in September. It rained constantly and blew 20-30 mph winds for hours. Along with the wind screens this shelter saved our trip. While we didn't exactly stay dry in these conditions, we managed to cook and sit comfortably without retreating to our tent. It will collect water on the sides but this is easily remedied by staking out the side tabs. It is also not as big as some of the shelters made for weekend camping at the local state park, but it is plenty big for four people in chairs plus a camp stove. Since we were on a mobile trip we had to take down and reassemble the shelter several times. We also had to re-rig the wind screens as the wind changed. These were very simple to do. Two people can set it up or take it down in 5 minutes even in blowing rain. I would highly recommend the wind screens (two sets) if real adverse weather is expected. The shelter was sturdy enough to withstand constant wind although obviously careful staking out is necessary under these conditions. We got up one particularly windy night expecting to find our camp blown away, but nothing was out of place. The shelter is too heavy to backpack, but well within reason for a packhorse, raft, or car. It was easily transported in our luggage on the airline. I highly recommend this shelter.

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

After reading some of the negative comments, I decided to try this shelter anyway. I set it and staked out the guyouts tightly and it held up superbly in VERY heavy rains for a day and a half. The roof was tight so no water collected. I even staked out the bottoms of the walls so the floor spaced opened up to about the 10x10 foot print. I put my camp kitchen under neath and purchased the optional walls that are available and the Alcove was a Winner. I do recommend the walls if you want to stay dry in torrential down pours. Airflow was good.
It was a bit cramped for the 7 campers with chairs and the kitchen, but 5 people was fine. Condensation dripped occasionaly from the center beam but it was nothing to deter me from recommending this product and giving it a (1-5) 4+ Campfire rating.

Service and delivery comments:

Delivery was prompt. It arrived when they said and was in perfect condition.

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I looked all over and at a bunch of shelter designs. I decided on this one because it is very easy to set up and relatively light for a shelter of this size. One thing I have found out while using the shelter is that you really need to use the side guylines if there is any rain or moderate wind. They are not iincluded. And if you have heavy rain, the fly needs to be very tight so no water builds up.

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

First of all, let me say that REI really has me in mind when they design these great products. Ergonomical doesn't even begin to describe the attention to the human factors they put into the R&D. While I was searching for the perfect sun shelter for a trip in the middle of July to central Florida, I considered cost, ease of setup, and coverage from the relentless sun that time of year. Finally, I found this wonderfully necessary piece of gear. It set up within 5 minutes, was plenty of room for 4 adults and 3 kids, and provided an adjustable height for protection from that blasted fire-ball. We stayed down there for 10 days and used it for the 7 we spent at the beach. Although it was a bit on the heavy side, carrying it from the car to the beach was a breeze with the bag, the color-coded system became second nature by the third set-up, and my wife really loved the look of it set-up, especially contrasting against all of the creative ways people use to protect themselves from the mid-day heat. All-in-all, I'm confident, this is a piece of equipment that will continue to provide my family with a lifetime of outdoor experiences.